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The description of the iron flask magic item states, in part:

You can use an action to remove the flask's stopper and release the creature the flask contains. The creature is friendly to you and your companions for 1 hour and obeys your commands for that duration. If you give no commands or give it a command that is likely to result in its death, it defends itself but otherwise takes no actions. At the end of the duration, the creature acts in accordance with its normal disposition and alignment.

Now my issue with this comes from the following incident that just occurred in my past session for Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus.

The players traversed the Scab prior to entering the Bleeding Citadel to find the iron flask amongst the deceased Night Hag's objects in her lair. They released the fiendish flesh golem and killed it due to it not being theirs and attacking them as the module says. They still held onto the iron flask after the wizard identified it, and realized its potential for demons if anything. So they eventually came across the diggers trying to dig out the Crokek'toeck. They killed them and reached the beast themselves to capture it in the Iron Flask instead. The bit I'm concerned with is they intend to use the creature as a trump card and have it serve them in battle for the hour of use.

What I don't understand is that the iron flask doesn't explicitly state that this is a charm on the creature to force its friendly position towards the party and adhere to their commands. The crokek'toeck has immunity to the charmed condition. This confuses me, as I presume the iron flask technically charms said captured entities to obey their temporary master(s). However, the item description neglects to state this.

Do I proceed with the crokek'toeck being immune to the friendly nature once it pops out, and have it proceed to flee, attack the party, etc.? Or is the iron flask meant to override that immunity, and so their plan works as they think it would, meaning the crokek'toeck obeys the party?

I'm seeking a logical answer prior to flavored suggestions.

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    – Someone_Evil ♦
    May 24, 2020 at 21:59

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Iron Flask doesn't mention the Charmed condition

Creatures immune to charmed are still susceptible to the Iron Flask, since it doesn't interact with that condition at all.

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    \$\begingroup\$ DaleM, we're having to edit your posts for tone a lot recently. They're even being flagged for our attention. We don't want to have to keep doing this, and we need you to seriously look at your own answers to ensure they have a polite, respectful, non-dismissive tone before you post them. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    May 24, 2020 at 22:18
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    \$\begingroup\$ It might be worthwhile to mention that the Iron Flask found randomly explicitly has a chance to contain a number of creatures immune to the Charmed condition. The Deva, Night Hag, Solar, and Ultroloth for example \$\endgroup\$
    – user60913
    May 24, 2020 at 23:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ I see, reason I asked this is due to something further down the line with similar immunity. There is a chance they may encounter a demon lord as a potential threat in the endgame, possibly 2, and I predict the one with the flask to be risky and try to use it. Now, the odds of them blowing through their legendary resistances and fail after that is extreme, but if that were to happen the lord is compelled to help them if released? That just feels highly unlikely for a being of chaos incarnate to do so. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ace of Spades
    May 25, 2020 at 5:17
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    \$\begingroup\$ @AceofSpades yes. Well, it’s magic. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dale M
    May 25, 2020 at 6:03

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